Chiefs bag vital away goal
Chiefs’ overall performance was worth more than just the one away-goal advantage they will enjoy when the teams lock horns in the second leg in a fortnight’s time. There was also the matter of a missed first-half penalty which Chiefs may come to rue in the return meeting.
The singing of the near-capacity crowd made for a joyous atmosphere and the players responded with an equally upbeat start to the match.
The clearly fired-up Chiefs were buzzing to-and-fro across the field with playing patterns that were easy on the eye and Celtic looked like they were taken by surprise, given that their man-marking went out of the window.
Some 17 minutes into the game, the ‘Phefeni Glamour Boys’ might have been two goals to the good after they laid siege to the ‘Phunya Sele Sele’ goalmouth. However, they failed to reckon with Patrick Tignyemb, Celtic’s Cameroon-born goalkeeper. He was every inch an ‘Indomitable Lion’ as he, more often than not, single-handedly denied Chiefs with several reflex action saves.
Buoyed by Tignyemb’s heroics, the Celtic defence remained calm and did well to make the transition from defensive to attacking positions via well-placed clearances from deep options. Celtic were not, however, as threatening as Chiefs on intermittent raids into the strike zone although they forced goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune into action with an 11th minute save.
While the Celtic rear-guard was living a charmed life after one let-off after the other allowed them to keep a clean slate, their Chiefs counterparts were rudely surprised at the other end just past the half-hour mark when they became complacent in front of goal. This allowed debutante Helder Pelembe to fire a speculative drive from some 40 metres out and Khune was beaten all ends up (1-0).
Strangely, instead of a response by Chiefs they remained passive for a while as they allowed Celtic to probe their defence without inflicting further damage.
Once Chiefs managed to regain their composure they again worked their way upfield to pressure the Celtic defence who were rather unfortunate to concede a ‘spot kick’ after referee Robert Smith harshly ruled that Bevan Fransman had fouled Siphelele Mthembu.
Incredibly, Chiefs’ marksman Bernard Parker spurned the chance to equalise when he ballooned the ball over the cross-bar.
Celtic sat on their slender one-goal advantage to see out the half with their lead intact.
Early second-half play was mostly played in the Celtic half although Chiefs did not fashion many scoring chances when closing in on the striking zone. By this time, the contest was crying out for another goal as the home side’s supporters cranked up the excitement on the terraces in anticipation of a rare win over Chiefs.
However, it was Parker who obliged with a telling intervention as he went from villain to hero with a stinging scoring drive from well outside the area in the 62nd minute. It was a carbon copy of Pelembe’s effort and as it turned out, it was also the final score in the match.
Most appropriately, the ‘Indomitable Lion’ Tignyemb was named ‘Man-of-the-Match’. -- Herman Gibbs
ANA